A galactic civil war is raging, and Captain Malcolm Reynolds is on the losing side of it. But instead of battling it out with the enemy for the greater common good, he commits all manner of petty crimes and runs a transport-for-hire business out of his ship, Serenity. His life changes, however, when he picks up a young doctor and his nutso, telepathic sister and subsequently finds himself pulled into the fray between warring factions.